Don’t delete Microsoft files, even if they ask you to

Microsoft knows best (?)

Those lucky enough to be acting as unpaid bug finders for Microsoft’s latest (or is that just late?) piece of bloatware, Office 2000, would be well advised to avoid trying to reduce the size of its massive footprint by deleting files to recover space. Even the most innocuous little text files seem to have some strange and arcane purpose in Bill’s Great Scheme Of Things. One plucky tester who asked to remain nameless informs us that there is a tiny text file containing nothing but the words ‘placeholder’. “It’s called DELME.TXT, he wailed to a Register staffer, “So I did. “Then I got on the train to do some work on the way to the office and discovered that when I tried to start Word 2000 it kept starting the installer and asking for the Office CD, which, of course, was at home.” Nice one Software Stan. The Register’s resident software guru, Dr. Dos, comments: “Come on, Microsoft, why not use less misleading names for this kind of file, such as DELME IF YOU THINK YOU’RE HARD ENOUGH” ®